It is if you're under 30.........if your 40 you got work to do and more planing........if your over 50........then you're behind your peers in the pursuit of "comfortable".

How would you feel about someone over 50 with a defined pension of ~1,500/ month who is half a millionaire in their 401k? Asking for a friend.
I never see defined pensions discussed in these situations.

How would you feel about someone over 50 with a defined pension of ~1,500/ month who is half a millionaire in their 401k? Asking for a friend.
I never see defined pensions discussed in these situations.

I look at this from a point of view that assumes you don't have a pension coming...........(Most people don't)........but even so........without getting hung up in the actual numbers because this will be different for different income levels and situations.

The point I was really attempting, in posting up what I did, was all about how delaying "the plan" for success is a huge mistake too many Americans make.

Start EARLY and the numbers I posted are very achievable for anyone with this country's median income level.

If you have pension money coming and then there is also SS............ you can likely still meet a pretty healthy number at retirement in your retirement accounts. You can afford yo be a little more aggressive than the person without a pension.

Calling your level on target, short of target or even possibly ahead can't really be done without knowing so very much more about you and your own situation and family, along with what retirement means to you. This, in a nut shell, is why I can only speak in broad general terms.

A million in your 50s is NOT a tough target to meet if you started after this goal in your first year of work.

It's way less likely if someone waits 'till their 30s to get seriously started and if they wait, as so many do, until their 40s because they were raising kids and paying a mortgage...... meeting the required figures that fund a "comfortable" and "active" retirement will either require them to work longer and/or plow away extra cash that could have made those years after the kids are gone a whole lot nicer.

The bottom line the costs associated with waiting.........is found in how it squanders your most valuable asset in all this ........."time".....regardless of income level........it's still the one piece that can make it such that you give up very little over a working lifetime to achieve "comfortable".........or you give up a whole lot in those last 10-20 years to ensure you still make the goal.

But I bet your friends knows this already......... nobody in their 50s isn't aware of it.........it's the 20 something that it's so very hard to make the impression on about how retirement is coming despite how it looks like such a far off and fuzzy concept at the time. They can make a pretty much PAINLESS effort early on or they can wait and make the very tough decisions and trade offs later.

How would you feel about someone over 50 with a defined pension of ~1,500/ month who is half a millionaire in their 401k? Asking for a friend. I never see defined pensions discussed in these situations.

That was my father's situation years ago. Since then, his Roth IRA has more than doubled.

I assume that the pension of $1,500/month is in the future and fixed and not current and able to grow (it could double by the time he retires). But $500,000 a year should provide anywhere from $18,000 - $25,000 a year in income assuming a conservative withdrawal rate. So combined about $40,000 a year in income, give-or-take.

Fact is, it is still a substantial amount of money and the vast majority of Americans do NOT have it net or liquid.

If you are already well setup in life (reasonable expenses and debt, healthy, etc), $1 million well invested can generate enough income to live comfortably without a job. I guarantee you that if someone like Trump had to start over with $1 million today, he would gave the drive and ingenuity to turn that sum into a mountain of cash. Could Barack do that on his own? He hadn't done **** by age 47.

Fact is, it is still a substantial amount of money and the vast majority of Americans do NOT have it net or liquid.

If you are already well setup on life (reasonable expenses and debt, healthy, etc), $1 million well invested can generate enough income to live comfortably without a job. I guarantee you that if someone like Trump had to start over with $1 million today, he would gave the drive and ingenuity to turn that sum into a mountain of cash. Could Barack do that on his own? He hadn't done **** by age 47.

Trump has proven himself more than capable of bouncing back bigly many times. He was already a billionaire by age 30. That doesn't happen by accident. Give Barack the same million dollar loan at a young age and he wouldn't have the same result. Give Mike Tyson $10 million free and clear, and he'd magically turn it into $0.00.

Trump has proven himself more than capable of bouncing back bigly many times. He was already a billionaire by age 30. That doesn't happen by accident. Give Barack the same million dollar loan at a young age and he wouldn't have the same result. Give Mike Tyson $10 million free and clear, and he'd magically turn it into $0.00.

Million dollar loan? That he never paid back. And the additional 3.5 million illegal "loan" to bail out his failing casino when his Dad bought 3.5 million in chips and then never cashed them in? And the tens or hundreds of millions in NY real estate he inherited? Why do you guys want to pretend Trump started with nothing?

Million dollar loan? That he never paid back. And the additional 3.5 million illegal "loan" to bail out his failing casino when his Dad bought 3.5 million in chips and then never cashed them in? And the tens or hundreds of millions in NY real estate he inherited? Why do you guys want to pretend Trump started with nothing?

He had a big head start in life, but again, has shown the ability to Win again and again. Barry showed the back of his head to old White men in Chicago bathhouses again and again.

I guess it eventually paid off, since old White men decided to place Barry in the White House many years later.

True - and net worth is a funny thing.....some don't realize their Traditional IRA/401K is "committed" money for a future expense and tax deferred -- not tax exempt.

I have a 7 digit portfolio with 3/4 of it tax free including a Roth IRA.... Moreover, the money is untapped because the wife and I live off two Federal defined benefit pensions and two social security monthly checks and zero debt...

So an apples-to-apples comparison of somebody with $1MM in a taxable IRA they HAVE to maintain for future use becomes a bit tricky... My top-shelf health premiums are $400/month for the wife and ...if a retiree has to pay $1,700/month that's a big dent in what his committed funds can be used for.

To wit, you can have a $1MM portfolio but due to exogenous circumstances live like someone with $4MM-$5MM in an IRA...

Not to brag but just to understand that getting giddy over a nice slug of money in a tax-deferred retirement fund might need some qualifications...

Yes, money in a 401K is not tax exempt but most invest to defer taxes to a time when their income will likely be lower realizing an "immediate" tax savings while also benefiting from the growth over time. A very smart strategy and yes, something to be giddy about. They also invest in order to receive the advantage of an "immediate" gain provided by their employers matching contributions, another great reason to be giddy because a chunk of that million or more was actually provided by their employer.

Your statement also ignores the fact that many invest in tax deferred vehicles because they do not qualify to participate in other tax advantaged vehicles like a Roth IRA due to the restrictive income limits that are placed on these. Any smart plan includes a diversified investment strategy that includes "a nice slug of money in a tax-deferred retirement fund" AND other investments. My guess is just as in the personal example you gave most that have reached this 401K mile marker also have other investments not included in the analysis like pensions, annuities, real-estate, businesses, trust accounts, after tax investment accounts etc...

Even if they don't they have still achieved something be "giddy" about. A majority never save a dime and just think old age is something to worry about later on and that someone else will take care of them - Social Security and Medicare...... Two things definitely not to be giddy about.

Later than that. 60s and even 70s. Friends dad purchased a home in Greenwich on Lake Ave past Pkwy. 13 acres, many out buildings. beautiful property. $150k in mid 60s. Today (if still intact) over $10 million. Even in the early 70s houses in back Greenwich went for under $100k with lots of land and a house that is easily $5-8 million today. Friend was offered the E.C. Benedict house across from the yacht club for under $500k in the late 60s.

That was my father's situation years ago. Since then, his Roth IRA has more than doubled.

I assume that the pension of $1,500/month is in the future and fixed and not current and able to grow (it could double by the time he retires). But $500,000 a year should provide anywhere from $18,000 - $25,000 a year in income assuming a conservative withdrawal rate. So combined about $40,000 a year in income, give-or-take.

You can't live very well on that income in most of the populated areas of the NE

Trump has proven himself more than capable of bouncing back bigly many times. He was already a billionaire by age 30. That doesn't happen by accident. Give Barack the same million dollar loan at a young age and he wouldn't have the same result. Give Mike Tyson $10 million free and clear, and he'd magically turn it into $0.00.

Keep in mind Donnie got a big head start from his daddy. Didn't exactly work his way up from the bottom

Million dollar loan? That he never paid back. And the additional 3.5 million illegal "loan" to bail out his failing casino when his Dad bought 3.5 million in chips and then never cashed them in? And the tens or hundreds of millions in NY real estate he inherited? Why do you guys want to pretend Trump started with nothing?

Please show us where he inherited hundreds of millions in real estate, that is complete BS and you know it....